Thursday, August 08, 2013

Bus Report #761

A most pleasant
ride on the 19 Polk Tuesday night, though I thought it would be bad, since the buses
were running (it seemed) very sporadically. In fact, when I left the office,
NextBus said 7 minutes and 47 minutes. I was not looking forward to riding an
overcrowded 19 Polk. It is, not to be overly dramatic (but being that way
anyway!), a kind of hell.

I got on by the
brewery and started walking to the back of the bus, when I saw a familiar,
smiling face sitting a few steps away from me. It was A., who I haven’t seen in
a while but who I have been trying to catch up with lately. Excellent.

I slid in to the
seat beside her and we spent the duration of her ride chatting and joking
around. I always like running in to people on Muni and I don’t think I’ve ever
seen anyone else on the 19 Polk who I’ve been glad to see.

We discussed
summer plans (not many), news (not much), and joked about a recent shark week
movie, which led us to coming up with a new shark disaster movie idea that we
think would look great as a Claymation.

A. disembarked
at Market and I moved over to a window seat. The ride was surprisingly quick,
devoid of the usual drama. I saw a couple regulars: the elderly woman who
always slumps in her seat, napping, until we get to California Street. The
heavyset, greasy man with the overstuffed backpack.

A group of tourist kids
consulted a map by the library.

A woman wore an
outfit that made her look exactly like Waldo of Where’s Waldo? fame. Her
glasses looked fake but the rest of the outfit was believable.

A few blocks
away, a man standing on the sidewalk chatting with his buddy wore a T-shirt
that said, “I [Heart] Hot Moms.”

At Polk and
Sutter, a petite girl squatted in the doorway of a shoe store and play-wrestled
with a beige French Bulldog.

The bus fast approached
my stop and I reluctantly paused the Offramp podcast I was listening to. I’d
get back to it a few hours later, on the ride home from It’s A Grind.

Buy More Books

Cast of MUNI Characters

Carmen
Ebony
The Dreadlocked Dental Technician
The older nurse
The makeup slatherer (Michele)
Nikolas (formerly Nicolai)
The man with the lavender crushed faux leather hat
The red-headed Chef (AKA the Original Chef)
The handsome South Asian Chef
Emiliano
Beantown (BT)
The Depressed CCA Student
British-Look Guy (Occasionally accompanied by his friend with the glasses)
More teens than you can shake a stick at
The Roche Bobois guy
Jason, the original headphones guy
Ben, the second headphones guy
QSAM (Quit Staring At Me)
The man who looks familiar from the back
Ramon

Comments?Questions?Concerns?

Large Items That Ride MUNI

A rolled up rug
The round part of a Papasan chair
An amazing chair
A small and compact grafittied TV set
A large living room speaker, walnut veneer
A kitchen chair
A fully realized pressboard desk, with oak veneer
An end table, white, with painted on roses
Christmas trees of all shapes and sizes, mostly around Christmas
A lawnmower
A five foot long pine bench
A party tub with faux rope handles, holding something potentially creepy in a black plastic trash bag
A very tall halogen lamp